Wasted Spiritual Root to Embark on Demonic Cultivation

Chapter 498

The Myriad Treasures Secret Realm was a “social tool” that Golden Abundance Tower used to build connections with the many Nascent Soul experts of the Crimson Kite. Aside from making these Nascent Souls feel more favorably toward Golden Abundance Tower, the goal was also to attract them here and turn them into long-term customers.

Even if they failed to convert them, every extra day these powerhouses spent in Golden Toad City meant consumption levels that ordinary cultivators could not even begin to match, greatly boosting the tower’s daily revenue.

In addition to all these benefits, the ticket revenue was another key focus, allowing them to seize large quantities of rare resources and supreme-grade spirit stones.

What they gave up in return was simply sharing the opportunities within the Myriad Treasures Secret Realm.

A secret realm was like a fruit tree.

Maintain it well, and next year it would once again bear delicious fruit. Picking some to sell and giving some away was perfectly reasonable.

It was worth mentioning that the Heavenly Pool Jin Clan, as well as the many Nascent Soul guest elders of Golden Abundance Tower, would never enter the Myriad Treasures Secret Realm to compete with others for the treasures inside.

This point.

Was the real reason this business had remained prosperous for so long!

“Ladies and gentlemen—”

On the high platform atop the jade steps, Jin Miaoshan raised her voice and declared.

“The Myriad Treasures Secret Realm is now open. Fellow Daoists may submit your ticket fees here and enter the secret realm directly. All gains inside belong to you personally—Golden Abundance Tower will not interfere in any way.

“However, if the treasures you obtain do not suit your needs, you may also sell them to Golden Abundance Tower. We accept everything!

“Of course, if any conflicts arise and lead to deadly fights, life and death are entirely in your own hands. Our tower bears no responsibility.”

As soon as her words fell.

The crowd immediately sprang into action. Wang Yu and Yan Ling exchanged a glance, then turned into two streaks of escape light and shot straight into the golden-flowing spatial vortex. No need to ask why they did not pay the ticket fee.

The answer was connections.

The Golden Abundance Tower elders present looked slightly puzzled.

Jin Miaoshan said indifferently, “Their tickets were handed to this palace long ago. What… do you have any objections?!”

“No, no, no! Miss Miaoshan has misunderstood. I was merely noticing that these fellow Daoists seemed confused.”

“It’s only a few breaths of time. What could it possibly delay?”

Indeed.

When the many Nascent Souls saw the two of them take the lead, they promptly tossed down their supreme-grade spirit stones and followed closely behind into the Myriad Treasures Secret Realm. The whole process took no more than five breaths.

The area in front of the Myriad Treasures Secret Realm quickly became empty once more.

“A total of one hundred and thirty-six Nascent Souls have entered. Roughly half are fellow Daoists from the Nether Mountain Sect. The Joyous Union Demon Sect has also sent quite a few, and there are rogue cultivators from the South Sea as well.”

“Record it accurately and present it to the palace’s hall shortly.”

“Understood!”

…

…

The Myriad Treasures Secret Realm was completely different from the places Wang Yu had explored before, such as the Blackbone Underground Palace, the Burial Pit, Eastern Extreme Capital, or Thunder Amassing Mountain. Those earlier locations could only be called ruins.

The only exception, the Burial Pit secret realm, had also been a Yellow Springs tomb.

Because they had been sealed off due to demonic puppets infected by Ancient Demons, none of those places could be considered normal, nor were they the kind of trials prepared for later generations.

The Myriad Treasures Secret Realm was different.

It was a classic trial-type secret realm set up by predecessors, similar to the Ancient Beast Ancestral God Mountain. The rewards were tiered—one stage connected to the next, each ring linked tightly to the following one.

What kind of successor cultivators the ancient creators of the secret realm truly wanted remained unknown for now. In any case, the main danger came from the accompanying Nascent Soul cultivators rather than the secret realm itself.

The Heavenly Palace Secret Realm that the Holy Lord had mentioned was most likely the same type.

However, it involved far too many hidden secrets, so fixed past experience could not be used to judge it.

After the two passed through the secret realm’s gate.

Their vision suddenly brightened. The secret realm formed its own independent world. In ancient times, such realms were usually maintained by formations and feng shui mystical layouts to ensure stable operation. Opening up an independent space was one of the divine abilities of Void Refinement cultivators.

In principle, the Ice Prison Realm should not have been able to produce so many secret realms. However, the existence of the Void Dao Compendium had taught these people many application techniques of the space dao.

Most secret realms had also been mass-produced during that era.

The gradual extinction of spatial spiritual materials in the Ice Prison Realm was partly due to the massive consumption during that time, which had caused many treasures to go extinct and left behind no suitable environment for them to be nurtured again.

Back to the main point.

After a brief moment of darkness, a dusk-like sunset replaced the sky, bathing the entire world in golden light. Large amounts of rock fragments floated unnaturally in mid-air.

They formed a winding stone staircase leading toward the clouds, its end impossible to see. The secret realm was deathly silent, as if no living beings existed within it.

The spiritual energy concentration was roughly third-rank, growing purer the higher one climbed. The moment the two landed, they quickly stepped onto the floating stone staircase.

Flight was forbidden on the stone steps; one could only walk.

Furthermore, there was a gravity restriction. The pressure varied according to one’s realm. For Nascent Soul cultivators, it was naturally set at the highest level of difficulty.

“A Body-refinement trial… The predecessors truly placed far greater importance on the physical body than the current cultivation world does.”

Yan Ling glanced sideways upon hearing this. She knew Wang Yu’s body was extremely strong.

“Brother Wang, if you are confident in taking the lead, go ahead first. For now, this place is still difficult for Yan Ling to pass through quickly.”

Wang Yu smiled indifferently. Seeing the golden-flowing vortex behind them growing brighter, he knew others were catching up.

He said, “It’s an old-fashioned trial. Just follow me.”

With that.

An invisible force domain spread outward with him at the center, enveloping Yan Ling and directly resisting the pressure of the gravity restriction for her.

Back when he had refined his body with Heaven-Refining Demonic Flame, the pain had reached all the way to his marrow. Mere gravity was nothing in comparison.

A Body Refiner approaching the peak of the fourth rank, having cultivated the Indestructible Spiritual Bone, possessed far greater pressure resistance than anyone could imagine.

Yan Ling felt her entire body lighten. She quickly followed Wang Yu’s footsteps and rapidly climbed the floating stone staircase. Even calling it “walking as if flying” felt too slow.

In just a few breaths, they had already reached the midpoint.

At that moment.

Figures arrived one after another inside the Myriad Treasures Secret Realm. Everyone immediately spotted the two climbing at the middle of the staircase. Those who knew what they were looking at cried out in shock.

Those entering for the first time without any prior information were completely puzzled.

“With that kind of speed, it’s still considered fast.”

Immediately after, they spurred their escape lights and charged forward recklessly. The instant they took flight, an overwhelming force slammed into them, shooting them straight into the ground. It took them quite a while to crawl back out.

They instantly became the butt of everyone’s jokes.

Someone in the know explained.

“The first trial is the Gravity Stone Staircase. The higher you go, the stronger the gravity becomes. It tests the strength of your physical body—an old-fashioned trial. You can resist it with your mana.”

With that, he stepped onto the staircase first.

His speed was no faster than an ordinary person walking. He looked constipated, his face flushed bright red.

Only then did the crowd put away their contempt. They stared with strange expressions at Wang Yu and Yan Ling, who were moving faster and faster. Only by experiencing the pressure personally could one understand how ridiculous it truly was.

Were those two fakes?!?!

“Damn it. We were only a few breaths slower. How can the gap be this huge? Did those two buy some exclusive secret intelligence from Golden Abundance Tower?”

Such malicious speculation born from human nature was perfectly normal.

As the many Nascent Souls climbed the Gravity Stone Staircase, Wang Yu had already wrapped Yan Ling in his Force Domain and shot into the clouds, arriving at the second stage of the Myriad Treasures Secret Realm.

On a special platform formed from white clouds.

Strands of ethereal cloud qi, fine as silk, wove together into a vast cloud platform solid enough to stand on, giving the place an otherworldly, immortal aura.

Colorful divine light suddenly flashed in the void. Two drops of treasure liquid condensed and fell in front of Wang Yu and Yan Ling. Wang Yu was very familiar with this treasure.

“Thousand Treasures Liquid. It can raise a magic treasure’s grade by one rank with no side effects. It works on anything below fourth-rank supreme-grade.”

Back then.

He had used this exact liquid to upgrade the Ghost-Weeping Flute. Seeing it again stirred some emotion in him. Sound-based techniques had long since been removed from his list of specialties.

Still, the black-pupil elder’s storage ring had left behind quite a few valuable demonic sound divine abilities. When he had free time, he could pick them up again. After all, demonic sound control arts were quite convenient at times.

They were especially useful on large-scale battlefields.

After putting away the Thousand Treasures Liquid, Yan Ling pointed at the boundless white cloud platform and asked.

“What is the test for the second stage?”

“Speed competition!”

The Nascent Souls’ guesses had been correct. During that month of fooling around with Jin Miaoshan, Wang Yu had indeed used plenty of back doors and obtained a large amount of information about the Myriad Treasures Secret Realm from her.

He knew every single trial like the back of his hand.

“Look at the cloud qi flowing beneath the clouds. Follow their direction and fly forward at maximum speed. Once you reach the required standard, you can arrive at the end of the second stage.

“If your speed is insufficient, you will be sent back to the starting point. It’s like an endless looping maze—you’ll never break through this stage.”

“So that’s how it is.”

After fully grasping the situation, Yan Ling had originally wanted to compete with Wang Yu in speed. But the moment she activated her Snow-Treading Movement Technique, she saw the afterimages of aurora ribbons vanishing at the edge of the sky.

She was instantly dumbfounded. That speed was far faster than the Blood Demon Hall Master’s movement speed in her memory—not just a little faster, but overwhelmingly so.

The situation made her question herself.

She seemed… to have become a burden… If he had come alone, he would probably have been far ahead by now, sweeping up the most valuable rare treasures in the entire Myriad Treasures Secret Realm.

Yan Ling unconsciously clenched her fists. She was also a heavenly genius.

She had broken through to Nascent Soul at a young age. In any force, that placed her at the absolute top tier. Yet in front of Wang Yu, she felt like dead weight.

How could she endure that? Even when thinking about the Heavenly Palace Secret Realm, if her presence were not necessary, he probably would not have wanted to bring her along.

The injury to her pride was something outsiders could never truly understand. Yan Ling gritted her teeth and transformed into a streak of ice-blue flowing light, shooting forward.

Using movement techniques in battle was basic for Core Formation cultivators, and clashing with divine abilities was an extremely common combat method.

As she charged along the cloud path, she noticed a few differences from the intelligence she had received. For example, white dragon-shaped “creatures” would occasionally appear within the clouds.

They would launch attacks on cultivators racing along the cloud path.

Their attack power was definitely fourth-rank. This was an unexpected event not mentioned in Jin Miaoshan’s information. Although it had no effect on Wang Yu, he still noted the change in his mind.

He could not blindly trust all the intelligence Jin Miaoshan had given him. It was possible the Myriad Treasures Secret Realm had undergone some changes after years of operation and exploration.

Moments later.

At the end of the cloud path, colorful divine light once again condensed in the void before Wang Yu. Two spiritual items floated quietly in front of him, waiting to be claimed.

Thousand Treasures Liquid could raise a third-rank magic treasure to fourth-rank or upgrade a fourth-rank magic treasure by one grade. It had no effect on spiritual treasures.

Cloud Dragon Heart Gold—a fourth-rank supreme-grade treasure material, a special metal that acted on the Mind Dao.

Both rewards belonged to Wang Yu.

The ancients had been generous with their rewards. Of course, this also had to do with Wang Yu’s performance. Displaying a speed comparable to Spirit Transformation while still at Nascent Soul was basically the upper limit for second-stage rewards.

The former could be used to upgrade the Taihe Blood Cauldron, while the latter could be fused into the Glazed Iceheart Pagoda to strengthen its Mind Dao power and protect himself from external demons.

The third stage was the final stage of the Myriad Treasures Secret Realm.

Passing it would allow one to see the true form of the Myriad Treasures Pool and obtain the ultimate reward. Although the process of clearing the stages looked simple and without much danger, that was only because Wang Yu’s speed was too fast.

The others could not even catch his exhaust, let alone cause him any trouble.

It was just an ordinary secret realm experience.

The body and speed trials tested a cultivator’s fundamental qualities. The first stage leaned toward overall ability, while the second stage focused on speed but also contained many hidden tests.

Demonic essence reserves, endurance, escape technique comprehension… and so on.

If one really analyzed it, one could talk about it for half a day.

The third stage was even more interesting. At the end of the cloud path appeared a cloudless dusk sky. Looking down, one could not see the bottom at all.

What a cultivator needed to do was design a magic treasure.

Record it in a divine-sense jade slip, a scroll, or blueprints—any format worked—then throw it into the dusk sky. The artifact spirit of the Myriad Treasures Pool would judge whether it was worthy of being personally refined by it.

If it passed judgment, one cleared the stage. If not, one could only blame their own bad luck.

The Nascent Soul powerhouses attracted here, including High Priest Youpeng—had all come to gamble on an opportunity.

They were betting that the Myriad Treasures Pool could refine a fifth-rank spiritual treasure. Success would make everyone happy; the supreme-grade spirit stones spent on the ticket were nothing more than a drop in the ocean.

Even if they failed, there were still guaranteed rewards. It was definitely not a loss.

Most importantly, this stage allowed for outside-the-box moves. One could prepare a high-difficulty, interestingly shaped exotic magic treasure in advance to pique the artifact spirit’s interest.

Or one could commission an Artifact-refining Master to custom-design it.

Bringing a blueprint to the Myriad Treasures Secret Realm to try one’s luck was entirely feasible. The spirituality of a newly born fifth-rank spiritual treasure was usually very weak. Whether it could grow stronger depended heavily on its owner.

Such artifact spirits were generally easy to trick and extremely stubborn.

A mature spirituality like the Myriad Treasures Pool’s, one that had already advanced to the level of a true artifact spirit, was extremely rare.

Whether the Ice Prison Realm even had a second one was unknown.

In this regard, Jin Miaoshan had told him a clever trick. Because too many people had used this shortcut, the artifact spirit had already grown tired of it. Unless the design was truly outstanding.

Otherwise, ordinary fifth-rank spiritual treasure refining blueprints could hardly interest it anymore. The simpler the better. The fewer requirements there were, the greater the subjective initiative the artifact spirit could display.

Wang Yu had not made any special preparations.

Instead, he took out a blank divine-sense jade slip on the spot and began carving.

A bow-type spiritual treasure, primarily cold-attribute with stellar power as support… capable of slaying Spirit Transformation cultivators… charge-up… range… celestial star positioning… and so on!

A spiritual treasure designed according to his own abilities.

Wang Yu tentatively named it—the [Sun-Piercing Demonic Bow]!

A great killing weapon prepared specifically for Spirit Transformation cultivators.